NEW LONDON, Conn. — The Middlebury College women’s cross country team won its 12th NESCAC championship on Saturday in an event hosted by Connecticut College. The Panther men also turned in a strong performance, placing second in the 11-team field.
The Middlebury women placed five of its runners among the top nine. The win was so convincing that any of the other top five racers combined would still not have beat the Panthers’ score of 29. Williams placed second with 51 points, followed by Tufts in third with 90.
Erzsebet Nagy, a freshman, led the Middlebury effort with a second-place finish in the 6K race in 21:28, eight seconds off the winning time of Williams’ Kaleigh Kenny. Panther junior Alison Maxwell took third place in 21:43. The Panthers owned places seven through nine, all finishing within two seconds of one another. Emily Singer led the pack in 21:49, followed by Sarah Guth in 21:51.6 and Katie Rominger in 21:51.7. Though they didn’t score, Katherine Tercek took 11th (21:56) and Summer Spillane placed 12th (22:07).
Williams edged the Panther men’s squad by 11 points. The Ephs took home the title with 51, followed by Middlebury (62) and Tufts (103).
Senior Greg Krathwohl led men with a fourth-place finish in 24:52, 18 seconds off the winning time over the 8K course. Nate Sans took seventh with a time of 25:02, followed by Wilder Schaaf in 11th (25:14). Kevin Wood took 13th in 25:16, while Sebastian Matt rounded out the scorers in 27th (25:40).
The Middlebury College cross country teams will travel to Bristol, R.I., this Saturday for the ECAC championship, which will be hosted by Roger Williams University. The Panther women won the title last year, the men were fifth.